January '11 A New Year

Back Home In Thailand

What a welcome we had when we returned home!  Our driver and our maid provided the beautiful flowers, fruit, and New Year's cards to welcome us home. 



January always seems to be a month where we recover from the holiday frenzy and get back into a normal everyday routine with work and school.  Even being here in beautiful Thailand we still had that everyday feeling of a routine.  We had very few events this month and took even fewer pictures. 

Robert's plant that is currently under construction had an open house that we attended where we got to tour the plant before the start up. 

Smyth and Chloe went on their Thai culture field trips during January.  Smyth went to Koh Chang, an island off the southern tip of the eastern gulf coast of Thailand, very close to the Cambodia border.  Smyth was challenged by a ropes course and got to do a lot of snorkeling, where he was excited to see clown fish and many other tropical fish.  Chloe went to an area on the west coast of the Gulf of Thailand where the strip of Thailand is only 8 Kilometers wide.  She did hiking, visited wats (Buddhist temples), and dug a salt lick for elephants.  And after hours of waiting they saw one elephant come to the salt lick.

We attended Robert's company holiday party where a drag queen performed.  Apparently this is quite common for Thai parties, to have a drag queen perform.  I can say it was quite a show that we won't soon forget.

The biggest event for January, of course, was Smyth's birthday.  Smyth turned 17 on the 18th.  Back in the US Smyth would have been driving alone for a whole year now.  Here in Thailand the driving age is 18 so to bridge the gap a little for him we bought him a new bike.  Which he seems to like well enough although he still has hopes of getting a Ferrari for his 18th birthday.  And Robert and I have hopes that he will get his head out of the clouds and join the real world.

And of course a season of the Simpson's is always a big hit.

Random Street Scenes

Here are a few pictures I've taken while being out and about. Sights that were so unique and startling to me in the first few months in Thailand have simply become part of everyday life to me now.   

 Here is a guy who makes banana roti (much like a crepe)  on a grill that is connected to his motorbike!  We can find him most every night in the parking lot of the 7-11 that is 2 Kilometers from our house.  Always good for a late night sweet.

Motorbikes are quite a popular form of transportation here in Thailand.  Here are a few parked along the soi (small street).

This chef's specialty in street fare seems to be corn on the cob.

Tuk Tuks, a three wheel alternative to a standard orange or pink taxi as seen in the picture, get their name from the noise their 2-stroke engine makes.